History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.137

v7.c91.137

Though the word '*bhakti*' does not occur in the principal ancient Upanisads, the doctrine of the bhakti schools that it is God's grace alone that saves the devotee is found in the Kaṭha and Muṇḍaka Upanisads, viz. 'this Supreme Soul is not to be attained by expositions (of a teacher) nor by intelligence, nor by much learning; He is to be attained by him alone whom the Supreme Soul favours, to him this Supreme Soul discloses His form.'¹⁵³⁹ This emphasizes the doctrine that God's Grace alone brings salvation to the devotee. The Śvetāśvataropanisad employs the word *bhakti* in the same sense in which it is used in the Gītā and¹⁵⁴⁰ other works on bhakti. 'These matters declared (here) reveal themselves to that high-souled person who has the highest faith in God and the same faith in his *guru* as in God'. The same Upanisad emphasizes a doctrine of the bhakti school in 'I, desirous of moksa (liberation from saṃsāra), surrender myself as my refuge to that God who in former times created (established) Brahmā, who transmitted to him (Brahmā) the Vedas, and who illuminates the intellect of the individual soul'.